The first season of Spring Breakout games was a great success last year. This year, there was even more excitement. The first two games were scheduled for Thursday. Credit to the schedule makers who lined the Red Sox “Big 3” prospects up for the leadoff game. They faced popular dynasty prospect Carson Williams. Unfortunately, the second game between the Dodgers and Cubs was rained out. The dynasty team will be bringing you a recap of each day’s worth of games this weekend. Keep reading to check out the recap of the day one Spring Breakout game between the Red Sox and Rays.
Be sure to head over to the Pitcher List Dynasty page for plenty more content from the team.
Spring Training Breakout Games Day 1
Boston Red Sox @ Tampa Bay Rays
What We Saw From The Top Prospects From Each Team:
Sometimes, Major League Baseball does things right. The prospects dynasty managers have been paying the most attention to this Spring Training all land in Boston with Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Marcelo Mayer. Dynasty managers tuning into the game on Thursday night got what they came for. Rays sleeper prospect Trevor Harrison entered the game to pitch the third inning throwing gas. The upper-90s fastball was no match for Campbell and Mayer. Campbell went first taking a 96 mph heater out to right-center. He showed off his all-field power giving fantasy managers a glimpse at the upside he possesses. Campbell has not had the best showing this spring, but should find himself in Boston sooner rather than later.
Mayer was second as Harrison threw him a fastball in the nitro zone for lefties. Mayer turned it around showing off lightning quick hands. While Mayer was a first round pick, he feels underrated and overshadowed in the dynasty community. Injuries limited Mayer to just 77 games last season but he hit over .300 with eight homers and 13 stolen bases. He is a fantastic athlete and looked solid defensively last night. While there have been questions about his ability to stick at short, he should be an average defender there. Mayer should be considered one of the top dynasty prospects in all of baseball.
Then, because of course, Roman Anthony had to get in on the action. My top-ranked prospect for dynasty baseball got off to a slow start in this game. He was 0/2 at the dish and did not get a great read on a fly ball to center field. Then, instantly, he reminded everybody why he is the top ranked prospect. He CRUSHED a home run out of the park for an estimated 434 feet. Literally, out of the park. Not against a no-name prospect either. Santiago Suarez threw a fastball up and Anthony made him pay. There is elite fantasy upside in Anthony’s profile.
Carson Williams looks so fluent defensively. Williams is graded out by scouts as an above-average defender and he showed that on Thursday night. He makes playing shortstop look easy with great instincts and a cannon for an arm. At the plate, Williams has a high dynasty ceiling. He combines power and speed that could turn him into an elite fantasy asset. Williams also has plenty of swing and miss in his game, which was apparent on Thursday. Williams looked fooled on a few breaking balls and took some big swings that came up empty. Then though, Williams blasted a home run out to left-center field for a home run in the eighth inning. Williams has one of the highest ceilings in all of dynasty and a sweet right-handed swing. The hit tool will improve, and even if it does not, Williams still has 25/25 potential.
Which Prospects Struggled:
The Rays threw a couple of pitchers who have become notable names in dynasty circles. The Gary Gill Hill hype has been gaining steam throughout the off-season and he threw 1.2 innings Thursday night. He gave up just one earned run but his performance was inconsistent. Gill Hill walked two batters while struggling to locate his slider consistently. He missed glove side repeatedly. His fastball did not get past many batters and seemed to lack any sort of life at the top of the zone. Gill Hill is only 20 years old with plenty of time to develop. However, Thursday night’s performance made it difficult to envision him turning into a breakout dynasty prospect. The Spring Breakout game left me feeling equally disappointed with Santiago Suarez whose stuff seemed to lack much juice. Suarez threw two innings and only allowed one run (the moonshot to Anthony), but gave up plenty of contact. His minor league numbers paint the picture of a command over stuff pitcher, and that was how it seemed in Thursday’s Spring Breakout game.
There was a lot of excitement about Blaze Jordan as a prospect even before he was drafted. The announcers even talked about how Jordan was hitting 500-foot home runs as a 12/13 year old. The hype surrounding Jordan has slowed down and he struggled last night. The biggest issue for Jordan has been aggression at the plate. While Jordan has not run into high strikeout rates, being too aggressive at the dish has limited his power output and resulted in plenty of weak contact. Last night was only four plate appearances. However, it was difficult to envision Jordan turning into a fantasy-relevant first baseman. The swing did not resemble that of a power hitter. His aggression also prevents him from ever profiling as an on-base machine.
Which Prospects Stood Out the Most:
The Jackson Baumeister hype train may have officially left the station following his Spring Breakout performance. Baumeister was traded to Tampa at last year’s trade deadline in the Zach Eflin trade. The 6’4″ right-hander threw two seasons at Florida State University before being drafted 63rd overall in the 2023 draft. Baumeister features a four-seam fastball that sits in the upper 90s touching as high as 97. His go-to breaking pitch is the curveball but has made significant strides with his cutter recently. The development of this cutter could be key to unlocking Baumeister’s potential. He struck out over 40% of batters in 29 innings with Tampa’s High-A affiliate last season and pitched two more shutout innings in last night’s Spring Breakout game. He did not generate any strikeouts but did get a notable whiff on a heater he blew past top-prospect Roman Anthony. Baumeister’s dynasty stock is rising and is going to rise even further after last night’s performance.
One player I have been beating the drum on for a while now is Cooper Kinney. Watching him yesterday should have encouraged dynasty managers. He faced two tough lefties to start the game last year and worked two hard hit singles in each of his first two at-bats. Shoulder injuries have plagued Kinney early in his professional career, but when healthy he has shown significant power and a strong hit tool. He is flying under the radar and was impressive last night. He finally struck out in his third at-bat, but 2/3 is not bad against lefties. Kinney finally got to face a righty in the seventh inning and drilled a double into the left-field gap. His willingness to take what pitchers give him the opposite way shows a maturity not all prospects have. Get in on Kinney now in dynasty. Also, if you like speed, buy Homer Bush Jr. at a quarter of the price as Chandler Simpson. Bush has elite speed, and more power than Bush, profiling as a more consistent and safer fantasy asset.
The big three from Boston obviously stood out. All three homered in Thursday’s game and are on their way to a major league debut in the near future. Franklin Arias also made hard contact in his one at-bat.
Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs
Unfortunately, the Spring Breakout game between the Cubs and Dodgers was cancelled due to inclement weather. A game filled with many top prospects will unfortunately not be made up. Hopefully baseball changes this Spring Breakout policy for next season and makes up cancelled games!
Photo by Wikimedia Commons | By Carlos Leano